


What the water gave me

by Wolftraps (AlwaysBoth)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, i guess, swimmer!derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 02:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1012845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysBoth/pseuds/Wolftraps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometime after the paralysis in the pool and the murderous kelpie in the Preserve creek, Stiles subconsciously comes to the conclusion that Derek isn't the greatest swimmer. Not bad, perhaps, but not great. This at least, Stiles' mind supplies, is something Stiles isn't much worse at than Derek.</p>
<p>Stiles' mind is a big, fat liar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What the water gave me

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted on tumblr:
> 
> howlinghale replied to your post “Does anyone have any prompts they’d like to see filled? ”
> 
> could you maybe write some swimmer!derek? :) thank you

Sometime after the paralysis in the pool and the murderous kelpie in the Preserve creek, Stiles subconsciously comes to the conclusion that Derek isn't the greatest swimmer. Not bad, perhaps, but not great. This at least, Stiles' mind supplies, is something Stiles isn't much worse at than Derek.   
  
Stiles' mind is a big, fat liar.   
  
And he isn't sure who to blame for the unfortunate discovery of this fact; Lydia for making him miss lacrosse practice, Coach for making him clean pool equipment as punishment, whoever thought it was a good idea to let Derek Hale have unimpeded run of the high school; but what it comes down to is that Stiles is in a mountain of trouble.   
  
Because Derek _is_ a good swimmer. Actually, by the looks of him, Derek is a _fantastic_ swimmer. And the stretch of his solid form as he glides through the water of the Beacon Hills High School pool is doing things to Stiles that are best left unexplored. So he only watches for another five minutes (until it seems like Derek might be getting out) before retreating, hoping the chlorine masks his scent.   
  
\---   
  
  
Because Stiles is physically incapable of letting anything go, he hits the books. The yearbooks. The ones gathering dust in the local section of the school library (generally only visited because it's a decent place to make out, or so Stiles has heard). A couple small calculations has him opening the one he needs.   
  
There, in full black and white in the 2005 BHHS yearbook, is Derek Hale; smiling from his place amongst the rest of the swim team, and looking way too attractive for someone going through their awkward, gangly phase.   
  
Stiles snaps a picture with his phone, for reasons, and wanders for another half hour before he thinks it's probably safe to go back to the pool.   
  
\---   
  
  
Two weeks later it happens again, and it takes more than a few uncomfortable minutes for Stiles to retreat. Derek is doing laps with the breaststroke, the flex of his shoulders with every movement frankly obscene. So Stiles hides at the edge of the room, behind the bleachers, and hopes the permanent scent of hormonal teenagers and chlorine and the rhythmic splashing of water will keep him from being noticed.   
  
Escape is incited when his phone goes off, bearing a message from Lydia that she's found Allison and he is to meet them at the front entrance ASAP.   
  
\---   
  
  
"So, I thought I saw Derek in the school yesterday," Stiles says leadingly at lunch the day after he encounters Derek in the pool a third time (a week from the second time; he's beginning to suspect Derek goes there every Thursday).   
  
Isaac looks at him oddly over a sporkful of glop, that he probably isn't going to eat, like he isn't sure why Stiles is near him let alone talking to him. It is, perhaps, a legitimate wonder, since Scott has run off with Allison for lunch and the only other time Isaac and Stiles talk is to argue over whatever monster they're facing that month.   
  
"Okay?" Isaac says slowly, letting the glop fall back to his tray and being generally unhelpful. Stiles isn't sure why he expected anything else. When he throws his arms out, hands splayed, prompting additional information, Isaac just echoes the gesture.   
  
"Well, do you know why he was here?"   
  
Isaac shrugs. "He comes here to swim or something when the team isn't practicing."   
  
"And no one cares about the twenty-something person of interest roaming the halls of the high school? 'Cause that's totally not suspicious at all."   
  
Another shrug. "I think he made a deal with Coach or something."   
  
Derek. Talking to Coach Finstock. Stiles isn't sure whether to flee in fear or ask to buy tickets to the event.   
  
\---   
  
It _is_ a Thursday thing. As long as there isn't an active crisis, Derek is at the pool, every week, doing lap after lap after lap. And as long as there aren't extra lacrosse practices, Stiles is there watching.   
  
It's probably a super creepy thing to do, but there is just something about the way Derek moves in the water. It isn't like he's uncoordinated on land or anything; not like Stiles often is. Derek always seems really controlled in his movements actually, but there's a stiffness to him that disappears in the water. He looks comfortable, and it makes Stiles feel like he is learning something about Derek; watching something private.   
  
It's a good thing he has no qualms invading others' privacy.   
  
He always wonders, as he sneaks out before Derek finishes up, if he knows Stiles is there. Sometimes there are looks when they see each other elsewhere that make Stiles think 'yes', but he never says anything, so Stiles keeps going.   
  
\---   
  
  
It doesn't become an issue for a couple months. But in April there is a sudden flood of storms, turning the creek in the preserve nearly into a river and the ponds into a series of lakes, and a new evil rises with the water level.   
  
It starts in the river near the sheriff's station with two people drowning in a week, and then a body floats up in one of the flooded ponds. A girl dies in her pool, a boy in his bath. One of the deputies aspirates her water and coughs up nearly a gallon. The star of the swim team quits after he claims something grabbed him in the pool and pulled him under.   
  
Derek continues visiting the pool until Scott is nearly drowned in his bathroom sink. By Matt. Psycho Matt. Psycho Matt who is, last any of them checked, _dead_. So not only is the ghost of the guy who was killing people off a couple years ago drowning indiscriminately now, but he's also depriving Stiles of his fix. Yes, okay, so he is a bit addicted. But he is 98% sure at this point that Derek knows Stiles is there each week and he still never says anything, or even glares much, so Stiles refuses to feel too bad about the rampant voyeurism.   
  
What it comes down to is that Matt needs to die. Again. Getting rid of him isn't easy, though. Deaton has this spell/ritual that could do the trick, but first the spirit has to be found. And Matt isn't just haunting a place; he's haunting _water_. So Stiles has the brilliant idea to go wandering through the flooded preserve to try and draw him out.   
  
Except there's a girl, maybe fourteen, who is out swimming in one of the large ponds when Stiles tries summoning Matt, and he only barely hears her scream. He gets to the pond with just enough time to see her head go under, and only spares a second to kick off his shoes before diving in after her. He pushes, goes further and further down, past where the pond should have bottomed out. He pushes until his head is pounding and his chest aches and he keeps thinking 'Don't breath in. Hold out, just a little longer.' And then he sees her. And Matt. And Matt sees him and lets out a horrible scream that travels through water far better than it should.   
  
Stiles doesn't stay to see what else happens, though. As soon as the girl is floating free, he grabs her and makes for open air, vision dimming and limbs weakening. They break the surface just as he can't hold his breath any longer. The girl isn't as dead or unconscious as he thought, coughing and convulsing and fighting the hold on her. Stiles may be strong enough to hold a paralyzed mass of muscle afloat for a couple hours, but swimming to shore in a possessed lake with your passenger flailing the whole way is a completely different ball game.   
  
He calls for help, once, hoping Scott somehow got his text and arrived in time, and then the girl slips from his grasp and goes under again. Matt reaches her at the same time as Stiles, and the fight goes on for nearly a minute before suddenly there's another person there. Another person who punches Matt in the face. It shouldn't work, but it does, and Stiles isn't going to complain.   
  
It's Derek who grabs the girl this time, and she's still struggling a little bit but it seems largely ineffective in the face of his werewolf strength. He makes for shore, cutting through the water like its nothing, just like he always does. His shirt clings to the muscles in his back as they tense and stretch.   
  
A shudder runs through Stiles as he watches, and he only hesitates to follow for a second but it's a second too long. Freezing fingers wrap around his ankle and yank him down, down, down. Matt's face is blue and decomposing and glowing softly. His eyes are wide and dark. His face distorts and, again, he screams and it carries through the water far better than it should, piercing Stiles' ears.   
  
" _This,_ " Matt yells. _"This is your fault."_ Stiles tries to keep holding his breath. He covers his ears to block out the screaming, but it's like Matt's voice is in his head. The pain builds until it's just too much.   
  
He opens his mouth.   
  
\---   
  
  
Stiles has seen that expression on Derek's face twice before. That terror and desperation. The first time, they ended up burying Boyd. The second, they almost lost Cora.   
  
"Hey," he says weakly, once he's done coughing up water and whatever else comes up with it. Derek is shaking, his eyes shut and his head bowed and his breathing is heavy. All Stiles' sarcastic comments, meant to defuse the situation, die in his throat. Instead, he sits up and wraps his arms around Derek until his shivering stops and the cool air causes Stiles' to start.   
  
The ritual works and they get the girl home safe, though how sound Stiles can't say.   
  
Derek doesn't show up at the pool for two weeks.   
  
\---   
  
  
The third week after Evil Matt, the sequel, will be the last, Stiles decides. If Derek isn't there, Stiles will stop checking for him every Thursday. He pauses outside the door and presses an ear to it, trying to listen for any signs that someone is in there. But Stiles doesn't have superhuman hearing, so he eventually has to give up and open the door.   
  
Derek is there, swimming laps by the look of it, but not with his usual drive. Instead it's slow, lazy, and when he gets to the far side he stops.   
  
"I know you're there," Derek calls, still facing the other direction.   
  
"Yeah, but you're supposed to pretend you don't," Stiles says back, abandoning his usual out-of-the-way spot. He drops his backpack on the bottom bleacher and stands by the edge of the pool, staring at Derek's back and the water that can just barely be seen trailing down his neck.   
  
"I don't think I can anymore." Derek's voice is soft, barely audible to Stiles from where he is. Before he even realizes what he's doing, Stiles is moving in, crouching down in front of Derek who looks up at him with this broken expression that he could definitely stand to never see again.   
  
"Hey, dude, it's fine," Stiles says, lightly touching Derek's arm and choking a little as he stares into those eyes that have no right to be so gorgeous with how much time they spend glaring daggers into everything around them. "I'm here. You know I'm here. It's cool. I'm not going anywhere."   
  
Derek stares at him for a moment longer, looking for something maybe, and then the corner of his mouth twitches, like he's fighting a smile.   
  
"Yeah, well, let's just be sure," he says, and then grabs Stiles' wrist and yanks him into the pool.   
  
Stiles surfaces with a shout, sputtering water and fighting his soaking shoes and layers to stay afloat. This was not an experience he ever wanted to repeat. _"What the hell?"_   
  
"Swimming lessons," Derek announces, with a smirk, and when Stiles splashes him in the face, he swears he hears Derek laugh. Just a little. And the kiss that follows tastes of warmth and chlorine.

**Author's Note:**

> You could have read this a couple months ago if you [followed me on tumblr](http://wolftraps.tumblr.com)


End file.
